Computing-scale.



C. M. MERRILL. COMPUTING SCALE.

Patented Aug. 20, I901.-

(Application filed Dec, 6, 190'0.

3 Sheets-Sheet (No Model.)

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c. m. MERRILL. v COMPUTING SCALE.

(Application filed Dec. 6, 1900.

(No Model) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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No. 680,796. v Patented Aug. 20, 1901. C. M. MERRILL.

COMPUTING SCALE.

(Application filed Dec. 6, 1900.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEIQE.

CASSIUS M. MERRILIQOF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

COMPUTING-SCALE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,796, datedAugust20, 1901.

Application filed December 6, 1900. Serial No. 38,952. (No model.)

To on whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, CAsstUs M. lVlERRILL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and'State ofKentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Computingscales; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in computing-scales for use bystorekeepers and others to secure a practically accurate computation ofthe price of the material weighed out; and the object of the inventionis to provide a scale of this character which is comparatively simple ofconstruction, accurate and compact, and in which the parts are securelyhoused and protected from injury.

The invention consists of certain novel features of construction,combination, and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter morefully described,and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front side elevation of acomputingscale embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a rear side elevationof the same with back plates removed, showing the relative positions ofthe parts. Fig. 3is a vertical transverse section through the scale-beamand centrally through the poise, showing the cooperating parts of theindicating mechanism. Fig. i is a similar view through the scale-beamand priceper-pound mechanism, illustrating the construction of thesetting mechanism. Fig. 5 is a detail-view of the setting mechanism onan enlarged scale, parts being broken away to expose the construction.Fig. 6 is a rear or outer face view of the carriage carrying the gearingfor operating the hands on the poise-dial. Fig. 7 is a similar View ofthe carriage with back coverplate removed. Fig. 8 is a detailperspective view of the inclined actuating-bar. Fig. 9 is a similar Viewof the counterbalancing pendulum therefor.-

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the rollerbearing hanger of the poise.Fig. 11 is a detail view of the carriage, showing the spiral springacting upon the gears which operate the hands on the poise-dial.

Referring now more particularly to the slidably mounted on saidscale-beam.

ter what position the bar assumes.

drawings, wherein like reference characters designate correspondingparts throughout the several views, the numeral 1 represents thescale-beam, and 2 the tare-beam, of the computing-scale, connected attheir ends by arms 3 and 3, and 4 designates the poise The scale-beamconsists of a comparatively long and narrow casing having a front plate5, provided with a longitudinal slot or guideway 6 and a removable backplate or cover 7. To

the inner side of this cover adjacent to one end of the beam is pivoted,as shown at 8, one end of an inclined actuating bar or member 9, whichis set, as hereinafter described, to regulate the indicating mechanismcarried by the poise and is provided at its pivoted end with a tooth orprojection 10, engaging a .groove in the hub of a pendulum 11, alsopivoted to said back plate, whereby a knucklejoint connection betweensaid parts is afforded to allow said pendulum to swing as the free endof the bar 9 moves up and down. The purpose of the pendulum is toprovide a counterweight which moves in unison with the bar 9 andcounterbalances said bar. As the bar moves up and down the pendulumswings in harmony therewith and perfectly counterbalances the bar at alltimes, no inat- It will be readily understood that as the free end ofthe bar moves downward the pendulum will swing to the right in Fig. 2proportionately to the extent of movement of the bar, whereby the latteris maintained in perfect balance. The use of the pendulum is necessaryto secure this result, as otherwise the bar would obviously be inbalance only at one given point and at a determined height. The bar 9extends longitudinally of the easing and normally inclines downwardlyfrom its pivotal connection at the top of one end of the casing. Thefree end of the bar is adapted to be raised and lowered to operate theprice-indicating mechanism on the poise by setting mechanism, whichindicates the price per pound of the article weighed out and adjusts thebar accordingly, as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The poise 4 is composed of a front plate 13, provided with an index orpointer 14 to cooperate with the scale on the front plate of thescale-beam, a hanger or top plate 15, formed with a flange 16 to takeover the rear edge of the back plate 7, and having frictionrollers 17 torun along the top of the scalebeam.

18 represents a filling-piece occupying the space in rear of the lowerend of the frame or carriage 19, which carries the gears of the poise,and below the lower edge of the back plate 7. This frame or carriage isprovided with a vertical longitudinal slot or guideway 20, in which isslidably mounted a combined spring and gravity retracted rack-bar 21,provided at its upper end with a rearward ly-projecting stud 22, whichtraverses the upper edge of the bar 9 as the poise is slid along thebeam and in so doing raises and lowers the rack-bar to a greater or lessextent, according to its distance from the pivot 8, in an obviousmanner. The toothed side of the bar 21 meshes with a pair of spacedgearwheels 23 and 24, which are in gear with an intermediate pinion 25,mounted upon an arbor 26, which also carries a smaller pinion 27. As therack-bar slides up and down in its guideway it first meshes with one ofthe gearwheels 23 and then with the gear-wheel 2%; but on account of theinterposition of the intermediate pinion 25 both of said gear-wheels arecaused to simultaneously rotate in the same direction and to turn saidpinion and its arbor in the reverse direction. By this means acontinuous operation of the arbor 26 is secured in one direction or theother without employing a gear of excessive size. The coiled spring 26,which retracts the rack-bar 21, is secured at one end to the arbor 26and at its other end to the cover-plate 28 and exerts its energy to turnsaid arbor so as to 1'0- tate the gears in the proper direction to movethe rackbar downward and maintain the stud 22 in engagement with theupper edge of the inclined bar 9 as the free end of the latter swingsdownwardly. The upward movement of the inclined bar 9 winds up thespring 26, which in unwinding draws the rack-bar 21 down. By this meansthe rack-bar is retracted by the dual action of the force of gravity andthe spring, which insures the positive operation thereof. A plate 28 issecured to the front of the carriage upon one side of the slot 20 andcovers the gears, and in this plate and the opposing portion of the bodyof the carriage the arbors of the several gears are mounted. The arbor26 projects forwardly through corresponding openings in the cover-plate28 and a transverse bracketplate 29, secured to the outer face of saidcoverplate, and also through a bearing-sleeve 30 in the front plate 13of the poise, which is provided with a dial3l,covered bya glass plateor-crystal 32. This dial 31 is provided with two sets of graduations,one (that denoted 32) extending circumferentially around its outer edge,while the other (that denoted 32) extends segmentally above andconcentric with the axis of the dial and said set 32. On

each side of the vertical center of the graduations 32 are numerals orsuitable designating characters running from O or zero to 90,representing cents, the subdivisions between each numeral 90 and theadjacent zeromark designating the remaining ten digits necessary to makeup one hundred marks or graduating-points representing one hundredcents, or one dollar. The graduations of the set 33 are represented bydigits from 0 to 6, inclusive, each having the valuation of one dollar,or a total of one-half the graduations of the outer circumferential set32.

The arbor 26 carries at its outer end a hand 33, which is adapted tosweep around the dial and to cooperate with the graduations 32.Surrounding said arbor is a sleeve 34,which is journaled in the saidbearing-sleeve 30 and carries a hand 33, which is adapted to sweepacross and to cooperate with the graduations 32. The sleeve 34: receivesmotion from the arbor 26 through the medium of a gear-wheel 35 and apinion 36, carried by a common shaft or arbor 37, mounted upon thebracket-plate 29, which gear-wheel and pinion respectively mesh with thepinion 27 and a gear-wheel 38, fixed to said sleeve 34:, whereby thehands are adapted to turn in unison. The bracketplate 29, in addition tosupporting the gear wheel 35 and pinion 36, serves as a retainer to holdthe rack-bar from lateral movement in its slot or guideway 20. The teethof the described gearing are so arranged as that while the large hand 33sweeps once around the dial-graduations 32 the smaller hand 33 moves twopoints across the face of the set of dial-graduations 32, as will beapparent from the foregoing description.

The parts thus far described constitute the indicating mechanism forgiving the total price of the articles weighed out. 111 computing theprice of articles per pound it will of course be understood that themultiplier is the pounds, together with the ounces, and that themultiplicand is the price perpound, whether a whole number or a wholenumber and a fraction. The multiplier in the present instance is shownas five pounds, the poise being set to that point, and the adjusting orsetting mechanism of the inclined bar 9, which is influenced by thepoise according to its distance to or from the pivot of said bar, is setfora certain price per pound only, this price per pound being themultiplicand, while the product is indicated by the hands 33 33 inconnection with the graduations of the dial. Thus it will be clearlyunderstood that as the poise is moved along the scale-beam the rack-barcontrolling the gearing of the hands will move up or down, according tothe direction of movement of the poise and the position of the inclinedbar, and operate said hands to indicate the price in dollars and centsof the article weighed out in conformity with the price per poundindicated by the setting mechanism, now to be described,

which controls the position of the bar. It will be noted that the pivot8 of the bar extends through a flange 8 on the bar and in line with theupper edge of the bar, so that the stud of the rack-bar will stand overthe 'center of said pivot and rest upon a fixed or neutral point whenthe pointer 14 is at O. The purpose of this isto prevent the operationof the rack-bar and the consequent move ment of the hands of the poisewhen the outer or free end of the inclined bar is adjusted up or downwhile the poise is at the startingpoint.

At the outer or free end of the inclined bar 9 is a toothed sector 39,which meshes with a spur-pinion 40 on the outer end of a shaft 41,carrying at its inner end a gear-wheel 42. This gear-wheel meshes withasmaller gearwheel 43, rigidly connected bya common shaft 41 to a rotarysetting dial or disk 44, having at equidistant points around its edgefour dowel-pins 45, which at each quarter-revolution of said dial ordisk are adapted to engage and turn a toothed setting-wheel 46 adistance equal to the distance between adjacent teeth of said wheel.This toothed wheel 46 engages the toothed edge of a second dial or disk47, which is loose on the shaft 41 in front of and is of smallerdiameter than the disk 44 and provided on its front face near its outeredge with a series of numbers from l to 60, which are adapted to beexposed at the front through an observation-opening 61. These numbersrepresent price-per-pound indicia from one to sixty cents. Cooperatingwith these numerals are two sets of indexmarks 62 and 63, located,respectively, on the exposed surface of the dial 44 and on the frontportion of the casing 64, which forms the inclosure for said settingmechanism, and wherein the observation-opening 61 is formed. The marks63 are arranged above four auxiliary observation-openings 61, alsoformed in said casing 64, and denote zero, one-quarter, onehalf, andthree-quarters, the fractions representing onequarter, one half, andthreequarters of a cent, respectively. The marks 62 constitute pointerswhich are adapted to be exposed through the openings 61 and to indicate,in connection with the numeral exposed at the opening 61, the price perpound of the goods being weighed. It will be readily understood from theforegoing description that each quarter-revolution of the dial or disk44 moves the dial or disk 47 one-sixtieth of a revolution, a sufficientdistance to bring one of the price-per-pound numerals thereon into Viewat the observation-opening 61, so that if, for instance, the numeral 1were exposed at said opening a quarter-revolution of the disk 44 in onedirection or the other would bringeither the numeral 2 or the numeral 60into view at said opening. The fractional indicator-marks 62 are soarranged upon the disk 44 that, supposing one of said marks 62 to be atone of the end observationopenings of the series 60', the movementof thedisk 44 in one direction or the other will bring said mark 62successively into View at each of the other openings of the series 60without moving the dial 47. The extent of movement of the disk 44necessary to expose a mark 62 at each of the openings of the series 60is a quarter-revolution minus the distance between two of the openings60, so that, supposing the price-per-pound numeral 5, denoting fivecents, to be exposed at the observation-opening 61 it will be readilyunderstood that the dial or disk 44 may be moved to bring one of themarks 62 into position to cooperate with either the one-quarter,onehalf, or three-quarter fractional index 63 on the casing 64 withoutmoving said numeral 5 out of view to one side of the opening 61. Thearrangement of the marks 62 is therefore such that as one of the markspasses beyond one of the end openings of the series 60 and away fromsaid series as the dial 44 is turned to the left or right another mark62 will appear at the opposite end opening of said series, and viceversa, simultaneously with the appearance of one of the price-perpoundunits on the dial 47 at the opening 61. Hence it will be clear that thedial 44 may be moved to indicate, in connection with the dial 47 andaccording to the present illustration, any amount from one cent to sixtyand threequarter cents. To operate the dial 44 to secure this result,the rear end of the shaft 41 is extended backward to the exteriorthrough the rear wall of the casing 64 and threaded to receive athumb-nut 42. By turning this thumb-nut in one direction or the otherthe sector 39 will be moved up or down, thus varying the angularposition of the bar 9, and simultaneously therewith the dial 44 will beactuated to correspondingly change the position of the price-per-poundindices.

The operation is as follows: It will be assumed that the weight of thearticle which is being weighed is five pounds, in which event the poise4 will have been moved to a corresponding point on the scale-beam 1, sothat the weight of the article will be indicated by the pointer 14.Assuming that the price per pound of the article is five and a halfcents, the inclined bar 9 will be adjusted to the position shown, theprice-per-pound mechanism being thereby operated to indicate suchamount. In moving the inclined bar in this manner or in sliding thepoise along the bar after the latter has. been adjusted the rackbar 21will be actuated .and will in turn, through the medium of theintervening train of gears, move the hands 33 33, so as to cause them toproperly cooperate with the sets of graduations on the dial 31, so thatthe prodnot of the multiplier-namely, the pounds-- and themultiplicand-namely, the price per pound-will be exhibited and indicatedby said hands in connection with the cooperating sets of graduations.

all

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In a computing-scale, a chambered scalebeam forming an inclosingcasing, a poise, an inclined member upon the interior of said beam,indicating mechanism carried by the poise and influenced by themovements of the inclined member, and setting mechanism for the inclinedmember, substantially as set forth.

2. In acomputing-scale, the combination of a chambered scale-beam, apoise slidably mounted on the beam and carrying an indicator, a frame orcarriage 011 the interior of said beam and connected to the poise andprovided with gearing for operating said indicator, an inclined memberon the interior of the beam and coacting with the indicatoroperatingmechanism, and setting mechanism for varying the inclination of saidinclined member, substantially as set forth.

3. In a computing-scale, the combination of a chambered scale-beamhaving a slot therein, a poise sliding on the beam and comprising afront plate carrying a dial, a back plate, a hanger supporting said backand front pieces, and a base-connecting bridge-piece, an inclined bar inthe beam, a carriage upon the interior of the beam and movable with thepoise, said carriage-carrying-operating mechanism having membersextending through said slot and provided with hands cooperating with thedial, and setting mechanism acting on said inclined bar, substantiallyas set forth.

4. In a computing-scale, a scale-beam, a poise provided with indicatingmechanism, an inclined member cooperating therewith, and settingmechanism for said member, the same comprising a price-per-pound dialcarrying indicators representing cents, a second dial actuating the sameand carrying indicators to represent fractions of a cent, and means foroperating the inclined member and actuating said dials, substantially asset forth.

5. In a computing-scale, a scale-beam, a poise provided with indicatingmechanism, an inclined member cooperating therewith, and settingmechanism for said bar, the same comprising a price-per-pound dialcarrying in- (licators representing cents, and having teeth, a toothedwheel engaging said teeth, a second dial carrying indicators torepresent fractions of a cent and provided with contact devices foroperating said wheel, and means for operating the inclined bar andactuating said dials, substantially as set forth.

6. In acomputing-scale, the combination of a chambered scale-beam havinginclosing walls forming a casing and provided with a longitudinal slot,a poise slidably mounted thereon, an indicator carried by the poise,operating mechanism on the interior of the beam and connected with theindicator through said slot, said operating mechanism including aninclined member, and setting mechanism for said inclined member,substantially as described.

7. In a computing-scale, the combination, with a scale-beam, of aninclined member pivoted thereto, a poise having an indicator-operatingmember traversing said beam and adapted to lie coaxially with the centerof the pivot of said inclined member when the poise is at zero, acounterbalancing device cooperating with the pivoted end of the inclinedmember, and means for setting said inclined member, substantially asdescribed.

8. In a computing-scale, the combination, with a scale-beam, of aninclined member pivoted thereto, a poise having an indicator-operatingmember traversing said beam and adapted to lie coaxially with the centerof the pivot of said inclined member when the poise is at zero, apivoted pendulum movably connected with the pivoted end of the inclinedmember and acting as a counterbalance therefor, and means for settingsaid inclined member, substantially as described.

9. In a computing-scale, a scale-beam, a poise movable thereon,computing mechanism, an inclined member pivotally connected at one endto the beam and influencing said computing mechanism, and acounterbalance for said inclined member, substantially as described.

10. In a computing-scale, a scale-beam, a poise movable thereon,computing mechanism, an inclined member pivotally connected at one endto the beam and influencing said computing mechanism, and a pivotedcounterbalance jointed to the pivoted end of said inclined member,substantially as described.

11. In a computing-scale, a scale-beam, a poise mounted thereon, a dialcarried by the poise, hands cooperating with the dial, an inclined bar,an indicator-actuating mechanism influenced by the bar and comprising arack-bar, a pair of spaced gears meshing there with, a pinion betweensaid gears and meshing with one of them, a spring for positivelyretracting said rack-barand gears, and means driven by the pinion foroperating the handles, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

CASSIUS M. MERRILL.

Witnesses:

JOHN B. GRAVES, GUsr SEE.

